One thing you can say about the biometrics industry – it's always changing! With the mainstream applications moving from law enforcement and national security, to civil government, to commercial uses, and from one-to-many identification to one-to-one/few verification, the golden ring remains widescale consumer adoption. There have been proponents that overhype the technology to naysayers that highlight faults they believe make it unusable.

However, today the "B-word" is being used in mainstream media. As opposed to days past, it is now unusual to have to stop and explain what biometrics is (are?). The big-boys that in the past saw it as an interesting geek-toy, now have incorporated it into their platforms. These are significant changes.

Whether it's the global economic situation, market saturation, or something else, I've seen a flattening of the large-scale government biometrics market. At the same time, I've seen some increased interest in biometrics for e-government applications (citizen-to-government/government-to-citizen) – generally as a 2nd or 3rd factor.

The movement of biometrics on mobile devices for financial applications greatly increases the credibility of the technology and brings it to the fore as a consumer application.

The smart mobile device provides an excellent and very flexible platform for a variety of biometrics – from face and voice to now include fingerprints and movement to newer modalities – the potential applications are limitless. This is particularly true in light of the near term introduction of secure elements within these devices. I believe we will continue to see huge improvements in the usability of the technology. That is what will push it over the line to ubiquity.